New Revised Standard NRS
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the region.
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Now Dinah, the daughter whom Leah had by Jacob, went out to see the women of that country.
2 When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the region, saw her, he seized her and lay with her by force.
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And when Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite who was the chief of that land, saw her, he took her by force and had connection with her.
3 And his soul was drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob; he loved the girl, and spoke tenderly to her.
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Then his heart went out in love to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he said comforting words to her.
4 So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, "Get me this girl to be my wife."
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And Shechem said to Hamor, his father, Get me this girl for my wife.
5 Now Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter Dinah; but his sons were with his cattle in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came.
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Now Jacob had word of what Shechem had done to his daughter; but his sons were in the fields with the cattle, and Jacob said nothing till they came.
6 And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him,
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Then Hamor, the father of Shechem, came out to have a talk with Jacob.
7 just as the sons of Jacob came in from the field. When they heard of it, the men were indignant and very angry, because he had committed an outrage in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, for such a thing ought not to be done.
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Now the sons of Jacob came in from the fields when they had news of it, and they were wounded and very angry because of the shame he had done in Israel by having connection with Jacob's daughter; and they said, Such a thing is not to be done.
8 But Hamor spoke with them, saying, "The heart of my son Shechem longs for your daughter; please give her to him in marriage.
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But Hamor said to them, Shechem, my son, is full of desire for your daughter: will you then give her to him for a wife?
9 Make marriages with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.
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And let our two peoples be joined together; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.
10 You shall live with us; and the land shall be open to you; live and trade in it, and get property in it."
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Go on living with us, and the country will be open to you; do trade and get property there.
11 Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, "Let me find favor with you, and whatever you say to me I will give.
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And Shechem said to her father and her brothers, If you will give ear to my request, whatever you say I will give to you.
12 Put the marriage present and gift as high as you like, and I will give whatever you ask me; only give me the girl to be my wife."
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However great you make the bride-price and payment, I will give it; only let me have the girl for my wife.
13 The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah.
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But the sons of Jacob gave a false answer to Shechem and Hamor his father, because of what had been done to Dinah their sister.
14 They said to them, "We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us.
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And they said, It is not possible for us to give our sister to one who is without circumcision, for that would be a cause of shame to us:
15 Only on this condition will we consent to you: that you will become as we are and every male among you be circumcised.
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But on this condition only will we come to an agreement with you: if every male among you becomes like us and undergoes circumcision;
16 Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters for ourselves, and we will live among you and become one people.
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Then we will give our daughters to you and take your daughters to us and go on living with you as one people.
17 But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and be gone."
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But if you will not undergo circumcision as we say, then we will take our daughter and go.
18 Their words pleased Hamor and Hamor's son Shechem.
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And their words were pleasing to Hamor and his son Shechem.
19 And the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he was delighted with Jacob's daughter. Now he was the most honored of all his family.
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And without loss of time the young man did as they said, because he had delight in Jacob's daughter, and he was the noblest of his father's house.
20 So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying,
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Then Hamor and Shechem, his son, went to the meeting-place of their town, and said to the men of the town,
21 "These people are friendly with us; let them live in the land and trade in it, for the land is large enough for them; let us take their daughters in marriage, and let us give them our daughters.
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It is the desire of these men to be at peace with us; let them then go on living in this country and doing trade here, for the country is wide open before them; let us take their daughters as wives and let us give them our daughters.
22 Only on this condition will they agree to live among us, to become one people: that every male among us be circumcised as they are circumcised.
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But these men will make an agreement with us to go on living with us and to become one people, only on the condition that every male among us undergoes circumcision as they have done.
23 Will not their livestock, their property, and all their animals be ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will live among us."
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Then will not their cattle and their goods and all their beasts be ours? so let us come to an agreement with them so that they may go on living with us.
24 And all who went out of the city gate heeded Hamor and his son Shechem; and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.
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Then all the men of the town gave ear to the words of Hamor and Shechem his son; and every male in the town underwent circumcision.
25 On the third day, when they were still in pain, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and came against the city unawares, and killed all the males.
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But on the third day after, before the wounds were well, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and came into the town by surprise and put all the males to death.
26 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and went away.
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And Hamor and his son they put to death with the sword, and they took Dinah from Shechem's house and went away.
27 And the other sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and plundered the city, because their sister had been defiled.
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And the sons of Jacob came on them when they were wounded and made waste the town because of what had been done to their sister;
28 They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field.
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They took their flocks and their herds and their asses and everything in their town and in their fields,
29 All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and made their prey.
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And all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives; everything in their houses they took and made them waste.
30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have brought trouble on me by making me odious to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites; my numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household."
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And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, You have made trouble for me and given me a bad name among the people of this country, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and because we are small in number they will come together against me and make war on me; and it will be the end of me and all my people.
31 But they said, "Should our sister be treated like a whore?"
31
But they said, Were we to let him make use of our sister as a loose woman?
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.